26 May 2011

Berlin (may 21-26; pre-tour)

Before the tour, I flew into Berlin a week before the tour w/ Meryem of Vessels-artwork Meryem. We stayed at Aidan & Leah's in Kreuzberg and went pretty much everywhere... !

Aside from the obligatory touristic attraction such as Brandenburg Gates, Checkpoint Charlie, Berliner Dom, Berlin Wall, Holocaust Memorial, etc. - we also went to the Museum für Naturkunde, the Dali museum, the Helmut Newton photography museum, rented bikes to the Soviet Memorial in Treptowers Park... but we mostly wanted to hang out in Kreuzberg, great neighborhood to live in.

Here are some pictures from Meryem:




Check out the rest of her photo album of our trip (must-see!): here.

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We also went to a few shows! Phosphorescent at Magnet Club, Oxbow performing an acoustic-set in some gallery (ok, we actually missed the whole set minus a couple of songs, but got free beers that we took with us for the subway ride!), Lichens opening for Explosions in the Sky at the Astra; it was good to see Robert there - we hung out after the show but they had to leave pretty soon after to head to Cologne overnight. Oh yeah, what's with Explosions playing in front of 2000 people - that's just crazy... it was hot and sweaty, and the sound suffered. I still remember the shows in front of 50 people at Casa del Popolo, some 10+ years ago.


Also, Kevin Drumm at NK in Neukolln - NK is an artist run independent non-profit organization dedicated to sound arts, which has rehearsal rooms, concerts & workshops. Erik from Svarte Greiner/Deaf Center has his studio there.


On the last day, we were eating ice cream in our 'hood park while a WWII bomb alert evacuation was in effect (found under the Oberbaum bridge)... Everyone went home except those who didn't understand German nor Turkish (oh, hay).




See ya later, Berlin! Tour starts now...

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